Information Contagion and Emotional Variations: Reading Through the Pandemic Period in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Abstract

This study aims to examine how Christopher Boone─the first person autistic narrator in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time─ processes a large influx of outside information, which accompanies the emotional turmoil of the adults around him. Christopher imposes series of personal logics on indeterminacies happening around him, controls pieces of information that are physically transmitted, and focuses on solving math and science problems to prevent his cognitive disruption. For him, the storming of outside information is likened to a rapid virus spread in point that people try to keep social distancing, wear facemasks, and get vaccine shots. Insofar as the adults are drawn into Christopher’s eccentricities caused by a whirl of information overflow, they cannot help being caught by anger, frustration, and helplessness. The fear of information processing breakdown triggers off the dissemination of diverse negative feelings. Thus The Curious Incident can be perceived as a symbolic representation of information contagion and emotional variations in the pandemic period.